By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, JAN 18, 2022: WHAT was termed as the biggest initiative of financial inclusion in the country by the Prime Minister at its launch, the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB), a 'Digital-First Bank' built on the rails of wide physical distribution network of India Post under the Ministry of Communication, Government of India, has announced a major milestone since inception towards achieving its financial inclusion goals through digital banking.

Today, IPPB announced that it has crossed the five-crore customer mark in 3 years of commencement of operations to become one of the fastest growing digital payments bank in the country.

IPPB opened up these five crore accounts in digital and paperless mode through its 1.36 lakh Post Offices, out of which 1.20 lakh are in rural areas with the help of about 1.47 lakhs doorstep banking service providers. With this, IPPB has achieved the world's largest digital financial literacy programme by building a financially aware and empowered customer-base leveraging the strength of 2,80,000 Post Office employees. IPPB has further stated that it has taken the digital banking to the grassroots-levels through Interoperable Payments and Settlement Systems of NPCI, RBI and UIDAI offering services in over 13 languages.

Interestingly, out of the total account holders, around 48% were women account holders; while 52% were male that indicated the Bank's focus on bringing the women customers under the banking network. About 98% of accounts of women were opened at the doorsteps and over 68% of women were availing DBT benefits. In yet another milestone, IPPB revealed that it attracted youths to avail digital banking services. Over 41% of account holders were in the age group of 18 to 35 years.

Speaking about this landmark occasion, Vineet Pandey, Secretary, Department of Posts said, "At India Post, we are committed towards becoming one of the largest financial inclusion networks in India, covering both urban and rural India. Reaching to five crore customers in a short span of 3 years speaks of the success of this model of providing cost - effective, simple, easy and secure digital ecosystem, particularly to rural India. We are happy that we could empower rural women too, to avail the banking services at their doorsteps."

J. Venkatramu, MD & CEO, India Post Payments Bank said, "It is a moment of pride for the Bank, as we have moved from strength to strength while building this customer base while providing uninterrupted banking and G2C services even during the Covid-19 Pandemic. The Bank is able to scale its customer acquisition on a fully digital and paperless banking platform serving people at their doorstep. The bank is committed to serve the rural, under-banked and unbanked citizens through collaboration & co-creation of suitable products & services."

With this view, IPPB has been able to leverage upon its parental strength of Department of Posts and is steadily transforming and reshaping the financial inclusion landscape across the country. In the near future, our endeavour is to build a unified service platform offering various citizen-centric financial services, including credit, at the doorstep by leveraging India stack such as JAM, Sahmati etc.

About India Post Payments Bank:

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has been established under the Department of Posts, Ministry of Communication with 100% equity owned by Government of India. IPPB was launched by the Hon'ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 1, 2018. The bank has been set up with the vision to build the most accessible, acordable and trusted bank for the common man in India. The fundamental mandate of IPPB is to remove barriers for the unbanked and under-banked and reach the last mile leveraging the postal network. IPPB's reach and its operating model is built on the key pillars of India Stack - enabling Paperless, Cashless and Presence-less banking in a simple and secure manner at the customers' doorstep, through a CBS-integrated smartphone and biometric device. Leveraging frugal innovation and with a high focus on ease of banking for the masses, IPPB delivers simple and affordable banking solutions through intuitive interfaces available in 13 languages. IPPB is committed to provide a fillip to a less cash economy and contribute to the vision of Digital India. India will prosper when every citizen will have equal opportunity to become financially secure and empowered. Our motto stands true - Every customer is important; every transaction is significant, and every deposit is valuable. For further information on IPPB, visit www.ippbonline.com